© 2023 Line St-Pierre, Guy Breton, Maurice Migneault, Samuel Heïne
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
¶ Word from the President
Line St-Pierre
president@urantiaqc.org
The Remembrance Supper is the believer’s meeting with Michael (UB 179:5.6 )
A tradition has been established every April 6 since 2017 proposed by our brothers and friends of the group TheChristExperiment.org, when people come together to share a bite or a meal in memory of Jesus and exchange their impressions on the life and teachings that He left us. This celebration of the meal of remembrance is very well organized between friends and members of the same family and also like us, of the study group “Discovery”, who celebrate together this request of Jesus made to his apostles during the last supper with them.
To meditate, to open one’s heart, to be edified by our reflections in these moments of spiritual intimacy, to affirm our love for Jesus and what he represents for us, solidifies our human bonds and broadens our understanding of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men.
And as this understanding gradually settles within us, there follows a deep desire to share the Father’s love as His Son demonstrated to us in His years of ministry.
God, our Heavenly Father has an individual plan for each of us, it is about finding what lights us up and serving where we can by shining our light there.
I invite you to send me a summary of your experience of the Remembrance Supper which will be published in Réflectivité and which I will translate into English to be shared on the site of TheChristExperiment.org for the benefit of all lovers of Jesus!
Brotherly friendships!
“When you do these things, recall the life I have lived on earth among you and rejoice that I am to continue to live on earth with you and to serve through you.” (UB 179:5.7)
After instituting the memorial supper, Jesus said to the apostles: “And as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me. And when you do remember me, first look back upon my life in the flesh, recall that I was once with you, and then, by faith, discern that you shall all sometime sup with me in the Father’s eternal kingdom.” (UB 179:5.9)
“In the day-by-day life of mortal man, virtue is realized by the consistent choosing of good rather than evil, and such choosing ability is evidence of the possession of a moral nature.” (UB 16:7.6)
¶ MY TRIP TO ISRAEL
Guy Breton
Carignan
During my trip to Israel in 2018, I had the opportunity to climb Mount Hermon (2800 m). I went up by chairlift, because I didn’t have the breath to do it, but I insisted on going down on foot to soak up the soil of this mountain. I won’t hide from you that at the bottom my legs were shaking and that I felt pain in my hamstrings for a few days. But I insisted on it and for several reasons.
First, because Jesus lived on its slopes, alone with God, for six weeks. I felt as if God had trampled this ground beneath my feet.
Also because Jesus stayed there several times throughout his life—as a child, as a teenager, and as an adult with his apostles. He saw the same landscapes that I saw. He went there to meditate, to talk, and to commune with his Father. He went there to complete the mastery of his human mind and to complete his total dedication to the rest of his life’s work on earth.
It is also the Mount of Transfiguration; where three apostles saw the glory of the Son of Man and were able to see that everything Jesus told them was true.
To their great surprise and dismay, they saw Jesus conversing familiarly with two shining beings dressed in the garments of light from the heavenly world. The face and body of Jesus also shone with a heavenly luminosity. All three were speaking a strange language.
Peter wrongly assumed that the two unknown figures were Moses and Elijah; in reality, they were Gabriel and Father Melchizedek. They watched in amazement as the heavenly messengers departed, leaving Jesus alone to complete his earthly life as the Son of Man and the Son of God.
These are all very good reasons for my presence on this mountain, but for me the most important is this: It is also here, on this mountain, that Jesus experienced what was called the great temptation and met in person the leaders of the great Caligastia Rebellion, prince of the Earth and Satan, representative of Lucifer. He presented himself as a man - a human creature and not a divine one - met them, heard their arguments, confronted them and defeated them. In addition, he refused to depose them himself, preferring to refer them to a higher tribunal for this task.
For me, this fact, also called “the test of the universe” [UB 134:8.6] is more than remarkable for two main reasons:
- He did this to show that a man who—by faith—does the will of the Father is more powerful than the brightest heavenly spirits.
- Also because Jesus as Divine could have annihilated them with a simple look, but he did not do so in order to preserve the image of his infinite mercy. He did not want to destroy his image of infinite mercy with an arbitrary gesture of power and authority.
These two facts impress me greatly, give me hope and confidence.
It is interesting to read the following: “And this “temptation,” this final trial of human loyalty in the face of the misrepresentations of rebel personalities, had not to do with food, temple pinnacles, or presumptuous acts. It had not to do with the kingdoms of this world but with the sovereignty of a mighty and glorious universe. The symbolism of your records was intended for the backward ages of the world’s childlike thought. And subsequent generations should understand what a great struggle the Son of Man passed through that eventful day on Mount Hermon.” (UB 134:8.6)
I have only walked down this mountain once, but I climb it in my mind very often.
¶ READ BETWEEN THE LINES
Maurice Migneault
Ottawa
¶ Jesus facing farewells
“WHEN preparing to leave Rome, Jesus said good-bye to none of his friends.” (UB 133:0.1)
From the first time I read The Urantia Book some thirty years ago, this sentence struck me. It is not without reason that the Revelators took the trouble to emphasize this fact. There must be an important message here to be retained.
Before the end of his first week in Rome, Jesus had made contact with thirty-two religious leaders among the Cynics, Stoics, and the Mystery group, and during his entire stay with a great number of people of various origins and conditions. Let us imagine that he had made a “farewell tour” before his departure and that, because of special circumstances, he had not been able to meet all of his contacts. Some might have felt privileged and others ignored, even rejected, and this might have created animosity, something he certainly did not want.
But did Jesus never say goodbye to anyone? If we look back to the moment when he was most likely to do so, when leaving Rome, Ganid says: “Farewell Master, but not forever…” UB 133:9.4, as for Gonod, he says: “Farewell to a great educator…”. And Jesus answered: “Peace be upon you…”. We notice that it is Ganid and Gonod who say goodbye, and not Jesus.
For us who live in time, the prospect of a long separation is usually a pretext for farewells, but for Jesus who was, at that moment, aware of his double nature, that of a creature undergoing time and that of a creator transcending it, this separation was perhaps not really one.
What then should we think of the apparitions after his resurrection? Could they be a form of farewell? Since he had announced these things before his death, this may have been simply an extension of his human contacts.
Throughout our journey towards Paradise we shall come into contact with a considerable number of personalities; will it then be necessary for us to bid farewell at every change of environment or level of existence?
If we lived each day as if it were our last, and each of our human encounters as a timeless bubble, what use would goodbyes be?
“The adoration of the abstract beautiful is not the worship of God; neither is exaltation of nature nor the reverence of unity the worship of God.” (UB 5:5.4)
¶ Urantia, a planet with an uncertain future
Samuel Heine
Reunion Island
- Population: 866,506 (Jan. 2019)
- Local languages: French and Reunion Creole
In the light of our understandings from studying “The Urantia Book,” can we share our view of what the book calls the practice of racial selection, with a view to developing the average man of the future civilization?
Why does this seem essential to the proper progress of humanity and what are the causes?
Three questions which seem to encompass the creative and evolutionary mechanism of God as described in the “Urantia Book.” — The part in the whole and the whole in the part.
God in His Love and Wisdom must be able, through the revelation of “The Urantia Book,” to give us a coherent, just, equitable and valid explanation of the subject.
It is also because of this misunderstood “black spot” of the “Urantia Book” that many potential readers turn away from the book in a bad judgment.
Personally, this is a subject that I would really like to explore in depth in light of the different points of view of other advanced readers. — Hence the usefulness of study groups.
The developers don’t tell us about it for nothing!
Viewed simplistically, what I have currently understood in the “objective” study of this subject in the “Urantia Book”, is that God in his creative plan, delegates under supervision. — Wisdom and Know-how not to let anything and everything happen!
It seems that the creation worlds bearing humans — are encompassed in two extremes of manifestations.
On one side, worlds created with the least problems “for the achievement of a well-determined goal in advance” and on the other extreme, worlds created with the most problems with a view to the same final objective.
I have deliberately omitted the factors of “lucky chance” and “unlucky chance” which can also come into play!
In light of the information received in the “Urantia Book,” he who says that “chance is a happy accident” is deceiving himself.
What “enriching” problems to solve on earth! - There is work to catch up on.
With all this experiential knowledge, we are going to be real “pains in the neck” in the world of houses!
In a good way.
It is an indisputable fact that humans learn much more from their mistakes, even when, in extreme cases, they are shameful and unforgivable.
The revelations contained in “The Urantia Book” can doubtless, and I hope “now and in time,” influence future humanity to act more intelligently.
For the greatest good of the greatest number; may all our thoughts, feelings and actions be consciously governed by God within ourselves, but also and above all “with respect for the free will and individual freedom of each and every human inhabitant of our planet.”
Everyone on the same boat for a first trip!
What an adventure!
There is an aphorism by Heraclitus - a Greek philosopher of the late 6th century BC - which says: “War is the father of all things; for every idea, every force, every separate consciousness, every living being, because of its ignorance, collides with the others and tries to live, to grow and to fulfill itself by asserting itself independently, and not by harmonizing itself with the rest of existence.”
Beyond causes, goals and interests; is not war defined as the manifestation of a state of conflict that requires the restoration of harmony?
I often watch the Arte television channel and one can really feel at present the collective emergence of a desire for European pride. — Well-ordered cultural pride begins at home.
The European race - the Caucasian is truly “in the historical analysis of the positive points and in the facts” a people of great value who has acquired over time a diversified know-how allowing it to be proud of what it has to transmit to future generations of its people.
At the level of France, among others, “national pride” which is regaining ground is somewhere for me the “positive” proof of a desire of the people to take back control of their cultural, racial and intellectual baggage.
Nevertheless, let us not forget that at one time, when the need for foreign labour was felt, the French in general got rid of the thankless tasks specific to the survival of their nations.
What I find astonishing, however, is this current claim of foreign invasion in France and Europe!
While this “foreign” workforce was gradually forming large families, the French began to stop having children or only have one or two!
As someone who worked in sheep farming for many years, I can say that the “loss” of a breed line comes from two factors;
First: Said lineage crosses with another racial lineage.
Second: The said lineage no longer reproduces its race sufficiently.
From this point of view, let’s not complain anymore, let’s have children and educate them well! (Smile)
Being a Caucasian married by “affinities” and then by “love” with a South Indian, our children from mixed race cannot feel expatriated to the values received thanks to the education that we gave them! (This will be the subject of another share)
“On a normal world the biologic fitness of the mortal race was long since brought up to a high level during the post-Adamic epochs; and now, from age to age throughout the settled eras the physical evolution of man continues. Both vision and hearing are extended. By now the population has become stationary in numbers. Reproduction is regulated in accordance with planetary requirements and innate hereditary endowments: The mortals on a planet during this age are divided into from five to ten groups, and the lower groups are permitted to produce only one half as many children as the higher. The continued improvement of such a magnificent race throughout the era of light and life is largely a matter of the selective reproduction of those racial strains which exhibit superior qualities of a social, philosophic, cosmic, and spiritual nature.” (UB 55:6.3)
That’s my thought for this morning.
Brotherly friendships.
“Virtue is righteousness—conformity with the cosmos. To name virtues is not to define them, but to live them is to know them. Virtue is not mere knowledge nor yet wisdom but rather the reality of progressive experience in the attainment of ascending levels of cosmic achievement. In the day-by-day life of mortal man, virtue is realized by the consistent choosing of good rather than evil, and such choosing ability is evidence of the possession of a moral nature.” (UB 16:7.6)
¶ Upcoming AUQ activities
¶ AUQ Annual General Meeting
Mark your calendar for AUQ General Assembly, Saturday, April 4, 2020, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at Best Western Hotel, 420 Monseigneur-Dubois Blvd, Saint-Jérôme, Québec, J7Y 3L8.
Even if you are not a member, you can attend this meeting.
In the morning, you will hear, among other things, a report on the activities and projects that took place in 2019 and those planned for 2020.
In the afternoon, we will give you a presentation related to our activities, followed by a group discussion where you can share your ideas and impressions on the proposed directions.
¶ Study groups
This activity allows several readers of different levels of understanding to exchange and study together the teachings of The Urantia Book. It promotes spiritual progress by allowing its participants to find practical applications to the teachings of The Urantia Book in their daily lives. This important step helps to maintain a broad perspective on concepts of truth.
You wish to participate or form a study group; we will be happy to assist you. If you wish to have your study group appear in this list, contact the person in charge, via email association.urantia.quebec@gmail.com or at 450-565-3323.
Outaouais Group
Region: Gatineau
Wednesday, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Maurice Migneault (613) 789-6833
Group: “Uni-Terre”
Region: Joliette
Sundays from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, (virtual Zoom)
Contact :
Eric Martel (450) 756-9387
Group: “At Maisonnia”
Region: Quebec
Every 2 weeks: Sundays, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Gilles Bertrand & Louise Renaud (418) 871-4564
Group: “The United Family of Urantia”
Region: Montreal — Downtown
Thursdays, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Mrs. Diane Labrecque (514) 277-2308
Group : “Le Pont”
Region: Montérégie
(Sainte-Julie, south of Montreal)
Tuesdays, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Claude Flibotte (438) 404-6399
Group: “The Chapel”
Region: Quebec
Every 2 weeks: Sundays, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Normand Laperle (418) 835-1809
Group: “Découverte”
Region: Laurentians — St-Jérôme
Mondays, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Gaétan Charland and Line St-Pierre Tel.: (450) 565-3323
Possibility to participate via Internet (Zoom)
Sherbrooke Group
Region: Sherbrooke
Every 2 weeks: Tuesday or Wednesday, (to be confirmed) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Helene Boisvenue and Denis Gravelle
Tel.: (819) 569-6416
Virtual Study Group, French
Every Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time (Montreal)
Via Zoom: https://www.zoom.us/j/9084766734
Responsible :
Guy Perron (438) 495-7747
¶ Potential study groups seeking participants
Group: “The Portal of the Shelter”
Region: Sorel
Contact :
Mrs. Eva & Ernest Asselin
(450) 517-0136
Group: “Saguenay”
Region: Saguenay
Contact :
Jean-Guillaume Tremblay
(418) 693-2049
To see the official list of study groups:
Click directly on the following link: http://urantia-quebec.ca/activites_liste_des_groupes.php
¶ Réflectivité
Responsible :
(418) 835-1809 (Normand Laperle)
Assistant :
(418) 871-4564 (Gilles Bertrand)
Publication (monthly)
Last week of the previous month.
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reflectivite.auq@gmail.com
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